TO HAVE A BAD COLD, verbal phr. (common).—Said of one who keeps his door closed against all comers for fear of duns; also of one who has ‘shot the moon.’ Also of one that has taken clap.
1863. Chambers’s Journal, vol. XX., p. 5. ‘It’s no good your ringing, remarked the book-boy, when I had discovered that fact for myself;’ ‘Mr. Cranium ain’t at home, he ain’t. He’s GOT A WERRY BAD COLD.’ After a few minutes, however, and many genial impertinences, I discovered that HAVING A BAD COLD means, in Camden Town, being in debt, while A VERY BAD COLD implies that the sufferer has taken clandestine departure from his lodgings.
TO LEAVE OUT IN THE COLD, verbal phr.—To neglect; shut out, or abandon.
1861. New York Tribune, July. The ‘Assents’ continue to come in freely at the Erie Railroad office; and the appearances are that at the closing of the books … there will be few shares or bonds LEFT OUT IN THE COLD.
